Day 72: Lucky Charms Treats (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

This is the first pin I've done where the item turned out as described, but no one -- not even my sugar-loving kids -- liked it!  However, since these came together exactly as stated on the blog (using the microwave, which was a bonus!), I'm counting them as a success.  For me personally, I think they were just a little too different from the Rice Krispie treats of my youth to really enjoy!  However, if you like Lucky Charms cereal, these are a fun addition to try for your St. Patrick's Day.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter

5 cups marshmallows

6 cups Lucky Charms cereal

Instructions:

Melt butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Once melted, add in marshmallows and then stir to coat with melted butter.  Microwave another minute and a half or so until marshmallows are melted.  Remove from microwave and immediately pour over cereal.  Mix well and then spread in a greased 8x8 baking dish.  Spray a spatula with cooking spray and press it over the top to get the cereal to stay put in the baking dish (this suggestion really worked!  I first tried it with wax paper, which was a disaster -- use the cooking spray / spatula combo and your bars should be nicely pressed!).  Let the bars cool in the baking dish for about 20 minutes prior to slicing.

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 71: Key Lime Cupcakes (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

Ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix (plus eggs, butter and milk to make boxed cupcakes taste like bakery ones.  For this one, I omitted the vanilla)

• 1 small box instant Lime Jello

• two regular limes, zest and juice

• vanilla frosting (I couldn't find the Pillsbury Key Lime frosting she mentioned -- but if you can find it, that would make these even better!)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In your mixing bowl, prepare white cake mix (either from box directions or how to make a boxed cupcake taste like a bakery cupcake -- I opted for the latter).  Using your electric mixer, beat in your box of lime Jello, 1 tablespoon of lime zest and 2 tablespoons of lime juice.  Fill lined muffin tins 3/4 full.  Bake 22-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cupcakes cool 5 minutes in muffin tin before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling.  Once cupcakes are cooled, frost each cupcake with vanilla frosting.

Verdict: SUCCESS!  Although lime isn't my favorite cupcake flavor, these are fun to add a little green to your St. Patrick's Day.  Just a side-note: when I made these with the additional ingredients, I noticed that they pulled away from the liners, which hasn't happened to me before -- I just unwrapped most of them before bringing them to my official "cupcake tester" to try!

Day 67: St. Patrick's Day Rice Krispies Treats (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My kids seem to like that I'm prepping a few St. Patrick's Day desserts early, as they get to taste test -- these were a huge hit and were super easy to prepare!

Ingredients:
* 1/4 cup of butter
* 4 cups of soft marshmallows
* 5 cups of Rice Krispies cereal
* 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
* green food coloring (I used 6 drops)
* 3/4 cup Lucky Charms marshmallows

My tip:
Give your kids the job of picking the marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms cereal. Mine loved this job because they could sneak in some marshmallow eating; I loved it because I didn't have to do it!

Instructions:
Melt butter over low heat until completely melted. Gradually add marshmallows and stir often to avoid burning. When marshmallow / butter mixture is completely melted, add vanilla and green food coloring and mix well. Remove from heat and stir in the Rice Krispies cereal. Once mixture is mostly combined, stir in the Lucky Charms marshmallows.   

Verdict: SUCCESS

Day 66: Copycat McDonald's Shamrock Shake (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

I fully expected for this homemade concoction to fail, as I am an extremely loyal patron of McDonald's during the month of March only -- I go just for their Shamrock Shakes!  However, my whole family was pleasantly surprised and said that this tasted almost identical to the real thing; my husband even said these were better!

Ingredients:

3 cups vanilla ice cream
1 cup whole milk (I only had 1/2 & 1/2 and 2% -- so I mixed them!)
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon green food color
Whipped cream (optional)
Green sprinkles (optional)

Directions:
Place ice cream, milk, peppermint extract and green food coloring in a blender.  Cover and blend until smooth.  Pour into glasses, and top with whipped cream and sprinkles, if wanted.  Serve immediately.

Verdict: SUCCESS!

Day 9: DIY Rainbow Cake (success).

Pinterest pin and website link.

My daughter had a rainbow-themed party for her first birthday.  I loved the pictures of rainbow cakes on Pinterest, but was skeptical of how it would turn out for me to do it at home since baking is not my specialty!  I decided to make it for the party without attempting a trial one first, and it actually was a success (which means that anyone else can do this!).  I followed the tutorial link above, but only had five layers instead of her eight.  Mine does not have the perfect layers or frosting like hers does, but it was delicious and everyone thought it was super cute!

I got the rainbow-themed tutu idea for the cake HERE.

I'm now inspired to make another one of these cakes -- it would be cute for a St. Patrick's Day party!